Having heard very good things about Plitvicka Lakes National Park (near the village of Plitvice, so literally Plitvice's Lakes National Park), I decided that I couldn't visit Croatia (particularly Zagreb) and be so close without making the trip - so that's what I did; of course, this meant another day-trip on the bus.
Right up front, a big and huge thank you to a friend of Kim's, David Trstenjak (who is of Croatian descent - note that vowels are largely optional here), and he recommended that I visit this National Park while in Croatia - I am in your debt for the recommendation David.
Plitvicka Lakes National Park (I'll call it Plitvicka for simplicity's sake) is 140km roughly south (south-south west) from Zagreb. The bus takes just over 2 hours, so I was up early to make the 7:30am bus.
Sachie is currently travelling Eastern Europe for 45 days (it turns out to many of the same spots as me - obviously a well-worn trail), while Nikos is working in Zagreb for 5 weeks, and took today to visit the lakes.
In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register among the first natural sites worldwide. Each year, more than 1,200,000 visitors are recorded. Entrance is subject to variable charges, up to 110 kuna per adult in peak season; today it was 55 kuna each (about Aus$12.50).
The national park is world famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. Currently, 16 lakes can be seen from the surface These lakes are a result of the confluence of several small rivers and subterranean karst rivers. So, while there are 16 separate lakes, they are collectively known as the Plitvicka Lake. The sixteen lakes are separated into an upper cluster (12 lakes) and a lower cluster (4 lakes) fed by runoff from the mountains, descending from an altitude of 636 to 503 m (for a total drop of 133m) over a distance of some eight km, aligned in a south-north direction. The lakes collectively cover an area of about two square kilometres.
Overall, this makes for a spectacular show of cascading waterfalls, particularly when the water is flowing well, which it currently is with the post-winter snow-melt bringing extra water into the system; unfortunately, that also meant that a couple of the tracks were closed.
There were photo-opportunities at every step, so rather than tedious and unnecessary captions (tedious for me to write, and unnecessary as they would all point out that this is Plitvicka Lake National Park), I'll simply insert a selection of photos from the day; don't forget to click on an image for a larger view, and you can then scroll through the gallery of images.
Firstly, we went to the lower lakes system, which includes the aptly-named "Big Waterfall":
I can quote Nikos here (I'm sure he won't mind) a couple of times. I was just considering how wonderful it all is, when Nikos commented "It's like a fairy-land" which I had to agree with. A little later as we were walking along Nikos turned to me and said "You know, if you designed this and showed it to someone they would say 'Don't be ridiculous - that couldn't be real" - how true; in my mind you wouldn't, perhaps couldn't, dream this place up - but it does exist, and it is beautiful.
I shouldn't have to tell you, but just to be on the safe side, don't forget to click on an image for a larger view, and then scroll through the gallery:
An enterprising taxi driver pulled up in a maxi-taxi (10-seater mini-bus style) at the bus-stop about 13 minutes before the bus was due (so we had been there a few minutes), hopped out and announced that he would take us to Zagreb for 95 kuna per passenger; now the bus is 92 kuna (possibly 86 on the bus), so for the extra 9 kuna (about Aus$2), we could have a more comfortable ride and get there faster and sooner (in fact, arriving in Zagreb a full half hour before the bus was scheduled to). This idea sounded good to us all, so we hopped in - in fact, all 7 of us waiting for the bus hopped straight in, it was that much of a no-brainer. As the taxi wasn't full, he pulled up at the next stop and made the same announcement to the 4 people there, and the first 2 to agree hopped in; now with a full load, it was off to Zagreb.
I chatted with the driver at a short stop we had so that he could refuel and he said that he did it every day - not a bad way to make a quick (and off the meter) Aus$200 or so! Enterprising and smart - I was impressed.
At this point, I'll relay a Greek joke that Nikos shared with me:
A Greek priest dies and goes to heaven, and is somewhat disappointed to discover that he has to wait in line outside the Pearly Gates along with everybody else. As he's standing there, he sees St Peter come out, recognise someone in line and wave him to the front. Now this was just not on for the priest, so he approached St Peter and asked him what was going on - what was so special that he got to go straight to the line when he was a priest and had to wait; to which St Peter replied that this man was a bus driver. The priest was outraged - why in heaven's name would a bus driver get special treatment. "Well," answered St Peter, "this man had people praying 50 times every day - much more than you ever achieved!"
I laughed a lot; for added context you can replace the word "Greek" with "Croatian" and "bus driver" with "taxi driver" however we arrived safely, obviously due to our driver's x-ray vision!
Along the road, particularly around the town of Karlovac, I noticed what appeared to be bullet holes in the walls of many of the buildings; and I confirmed this with my hosts when I got back to the apartment - indeed, many of these buildings have not been fully repaired since the war some 20 years ago, and in fact some entire villages in the area have been empty ever since, which explains the empty houses with collapsed rooves. Once again, a stark reminder of the recent history of this area and this country; this area was hotly fought over, as it is very near the border of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Another great day on the trip, and one I am glad I managed to achieve; Plitvicka Jezera National Park is a special place indeed.